Rayden Aoki | SL

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_24040618_RAY_9059.jpg - Rayden Aoki | SL

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Its coming down to the wire in the East.

Kaiser got yet another solid outing at the plate from Rylee Yamasaki and a complete game outing from Elyse Yoshioka to outlast Moanalua, 6-4, helping send out seniors Keira Uegawachi and Tania Luhia out in style.

"We've been preparing for this big game all throughout practices and we all came together as a team and showed what we got," said Yamasaki. "We came out with the win and it's really special because its senior night and we really wanted it."

The win for the Cougars helped them maintain second place in the standings, but with a game against current division leader Kalani Thursday and Castle Friday, a 10-2 record is the best case scenario, one that would likely involve some form of tiebreak.

Kalani faces off with both second place teams (Kaiser, at Moanalua) to close out the regular season, and can clinch the East top seed with wins over both, while Moanalua has two games at home (Kahuku, Kalani) and the prospect of tying for the top record in the East with a win-out.

Yamasaki racked up her fifth consecutive multi-hit game, going 3 for 4 from the plate with a run scored and an RBI, while Yoshioka helped her own cause batting 2 for 4 with an RBI of her own as the duo accounted for five of the Cougars' nine hits in the game.

"We had to work on hitting line drives, nothing in the air," Yamasaki remarked. "Just trust our swings up to bat, trust what we know, what we have. If we hit it on the ground there's a good chance we can get bases, we wouldn't really hit doubles, triples, but we hit line drives and it helped us."

Kaiser's defense came up with a number of key stops, including an inning ending double play in the third that limited Na Menehune to just a single run but could've been much more, and a second DP in the fourth when a batter struck swinging and a Moanalua base runner was caught stealing on the same play.

"(Plays like those) were huge because it's all just to back up our pitcher," said Yamasaki. "She did a really good job, and we really couldn't ask for any more. We just knew where to throw the ball, we were mentally prepared and we executed."

The third inning was a big one for the Cougars, but it took an overturned call of Sadie Tanabe initially ruled out at first to keep the inning alive. From there, Kaiser capitalized, driving home one run on a fielding error a batter later, scored another on a hit batter that scored a second run and then the third of the inning on a Madeline Nelson single.

Moanalua countered in the fourth, tying the score up at 3-all on two manufactured runs in the inning, one a fielding error on the catcher that scored Emily Tome from third and the other on a sacrifice fly by Meghan Castro that scored Malia Taga with the game tying run.

Tome had a double and a triple in the game for Na Menehune, who racked up four extra base hits compared to just one for the home team.

The Cougars responded to the visiting teams' pair of runs with a pair of its own in the bottom of the fourth, getting runners on second and third with an out, taking the lead on a passed ball that scored Tatum Mamaud and then adding another on a fielder's choice that brought home Brooklyn Uegawachi to make it 5-3.

Moanalua got to within a run as Raean Bumagat came home on a sacrifice fly by Ava Atagi, but Kaiser was able respond once again, adding an all important insurance run in the bottom of the frame on Yamasaki's third single of the game that brought in Keira Uegawachi.

Kaiser took care of business in the top of the seventh, getting three consecutive outs after Yoshioka yielded a leadoff walk to end it.

Yoshioka went the distance, allowing four runs on seven hits. She struck out one and walked three. Moanalua starter Kayla Mashino allowed five runs in four innings of work before yielding to Eva Kameoka, who pitched the final two innings, allowing one run and striking out one.